why do you think some people have quit playing AQ3D ?

Well, if you like the set ,buy the collection, if you like one item, just buy one item. Remember the game server isnt running by sunlight and AE devs arent eating rock for their lunch. They need money to keep everything works and I truly appreciate them for making this game pay2fashion rather than pay2win like other money hungry game that lock up not only cosmetic thing behind the paywall but also their random godly game breaker whatever there.
I know this game has slow progress rather than those p2w game. It may because like you said, they lost their focus. But maybe they also lack of staff or resources, who knows?

 

Yeah, there certainly are players who act like elitists for the items they own in-game. I think there's a caveat to any game marketed as free-to-play. Personally, I'm not against pay2win except when it's heavily excessive. I think there needs to be a balance between free-to-play and pay2win. One of the issues I've seen is people complaining about AE's loot boxes, or daily chests, being predatory; you might spend thousands of DCs just to get the item you want (or convert for treasure shards to get the item you want) instead of simply buying an item for a set amount of DCs.

For instance, chests in the game can be obtained for free through daily log-ins BUT a tempted player might spend 5,000 DCs on Emperor Chests and get 5 legendary items, but not the legendary item they want (let's say Legion Anguish Scythe), so they shard each legendary item for 1,000 shards each to get 5,000 shards to buy the Legion Anguish Scythe. But if the rewards themselves were DC-only and not the chests, people could buy the scythe for a reasonable price (like 600 DCs) instead of spending DCs on gambling. So even though chests can be obtained for free through daily log-ins, the concept of buying chests is predatory.

And yes, AE does need to make profit somehow, but by being free-to-play, they can't add stats to any DC items, and I think that really discourages a lot of players from justifying the purchase of a cosmetic item, which means AE has to find other ways (usually unpopular ways) to get players to spend money like by making DCs speed up craft time (and intentionally making grindy items have long craft time to frustrate players to pay up) or by encouraging players to buy items in bulk (usually as collection chests) and justifying those collection chests with loaded words like "free storage" and "you save #% off whereas you would spend # amount of money from buying each item individually." It's really more or less a door-in-the-face technique to get players to buy things they probably wouldn't buy in the first place.

 

Because they hating

 

Not sure if that's why but good answer lol.

 

Hey they probably are hating on us !

 

They also have made 2 extra Kickstarter for projects that are yet to be completed when they're 2 years late on the original kickstarter, it's kinda steep to continue asking for more and more when the original promise wasn't met and still needs more money thrown at it to get to where it was promised to be

I really like that floating sword pet, it reminds me of aqw, so I have to agree I would much rather buy it than gamble my way to getting it.

If they added a refund option or something similar it might be tolerable having so many dc items, I still have the red Dragon sitting in my bank that I bought I'd much rather refund it for something else as it's trash now

 

I feel most players that quit due so from boredom. Not because there isn't stuff to do, but there is no motivation to grind once you hit level 25 if your inventory is full. This poses the biggest problem. Lack of space for free players. Seeing as how largely, the game consists of collecting cosmetics, space is very important. Lack of, tends to create problem.
Doubling the amount of inventory for everyone would largely solve this, or atleast help in a big way.
Certain features are a must in mmo's, some of which lack in AQ3D. In time, this game will be cover most these features but it's a long way off.
To make this game a powerhouse, they need to hire more people at ae and focus on 1 section at a time. Do ALL darkovia, do ALL Lolosia, do ALL doomwood, not break em up into small segments.
It has ALOT of potential, but right now, its not doing enough to sustain its player base.

 

For most players character progression ends at max level and they don't find need to go for most optimal gear setups or max out class ranks. It's a problem that keeps repeating itself all the time which cannot be solved for everyone.

 

Yeah, pushing out a third Kickstarter splashed at an unintended audience probably wasn't AE's best idea, even if Artix really wants his idea to come to fruition. It's starting to backfire within the community, even when Artix tried to explain that it's a dream side project that didn't involve any of the staff (considering the other 2 Kickstarter projects haven't been finalized yet and people are feeling less supportive of future Kickstarter projects like for AQ2D).

I could go a great length about the issues and caveats about the third Kickstarter and how it's being poorly marketed, but I think it would deserve its own thread. But in short, the idea of pushing an NES game towards an audience of modern gamers is beyond ridiculous, especially when you consider that there are modern options like throwing it on the Switch (and you can get NES controllers for the Switch, play virtual console games and other retro games like Shovel Knight and Undertale, and so much more).

Spoiler: Bonus meme

They likely won't add a refund option where you can sellback items for DCs. I fear that AE is becoming more corporate, perhaps in fear that they might not succeed so they weigh in options that'll push their game towards success (even though it's sort of hurting them as well). I think the whole "gambling" perception of things should have been something to throw at players some point after the game goes Live once they reach a large audience (when it feels like the game is on a decline after having peaked a massive audience), but pushing out that idea this early on in development might just bite them. It's something that'll definitely discourage new players from visiting the game.

I agree that boredom is a reason for players to quit, but boredom is just one factor and boredom alone doesn't exactly explain the underlying issues. There are many factors to consider as to why people are quitting and in fact, this entire forum thread does a great job at addressing and delineating several reasons.

And one of the points I'm really not against is AE limiting space to 30 for free players and only giving them 1 bank vault space, considering I myself have played AQ3D on several alts just fine, and their bank vault system is actually lenient (example: 900 DCs for an entire bank vault (with several slots) compared to AQWorlds' 200 DCs for one bank slot). Upgrading to Guardian and buying DCs feels more like an incentive in that scenario; you upgrade and you get access to actual useful content. It's one of the game design philosophies that made games like AQWorlds fun; you become a member and you get access to exclusive areas and items. You can think of it as "content that free players will drool over and actually push them to support the game."

I'm just not proud of the game blasting cosmetics everywhere and feeling more "door-in-the-face" by pushing DC items in an unpopular form among the average consumer; the way cosmetics are being pushed out has more of a "whale" audience, and considering how small AQ3D is, that's a good chunk of the playerbase. Truthfully, I wish they went with item fusion and added stats for DC items, but most importantly, added gimmicks to give a reason to buy DC items, and not just for their looks. For instance, they could make the DC-only keystaff weapons in the Bank Vault map guarantee access to areas in the Master Vault map so you can actually explore inside the Legion Vault, Chaos Vault, and all of the other vaults with maybe exclusive quests. Gimmicks have more appeal than cosmetics (one of the best examples in recent times is probably last year's April Fool's Day gimmicks with the stickman stuff), and I think, not just AQ3D players, but a lot of AQWorlds players are starting to realize that AE pushes out less gimmicks and more recolors and items for the purpose of looks.

And I'm not saying that cosmetics need to be removed from the game. The issue is that cosmetics are heavily emphasized. Everything needs balance, even free-to-play content in conjunction to pay2win content. It's what gives the game diversity.

But to the people that are saying that AQ3D needs to be fully free-to-play, I wish those players would explain why. Pay2win isn't bad, but big corporations like Activision and EA certainly give that term a bad name by pushing it to the extreme. The point I'm making is that it's all about balance. Being excessively free2play hurts the company (company doesn't make enough money and has to find alternative means) and the consumers (some consumers won't see the appeal to the game, which is part of why the company has to find alternative means to get players to pay), and the same goes with being excessively pay2win, but sort of the complete opposite. You have to weigh in some balance, and that's one of the problems AQ3D faces.

 

I know maybe he bored because AQ3D just update 1 for a week

 

I am still on side with AQ3D method for now, because I dont really like how people treat pay player and free players in most major games. In AQ3D whether you pay or not, it wont make you stronger at all, it just make you prettier. And I dont really like subscription based game since it either make you regret to pay or push you to play if you are a calculating person. If AE want to push DC sell why dont they make it like most common game doing now, pay for daily premium currency that save you a lot but you need to login everyday. It's not only going to increase DC sale but also player to play.

 

That really doesn't explain much. So AE updates every week, and that's a reason to be bored? Games with even monthly updates can be boring or fun; it's more so about what the update entails than the schedule of the release. It's best to narrow down the reason than to be general. If it's about the quality of releases, then explain what parts you didn't like, and what you want to see improved or what you probably would have expected. The boredom argument is similar to people saying there isn't "enough content." There definitely is content, but what is it about the content that seems to be the issue? The grind? The RNG? The quest chain? Always narrow does the explanation whenever you can.

Subscriptions, I believe, are different among video games. It's how companies implement and execute them that's the issue. For Blizzard, I think they require you to subscribe and renew to be able to play WoW. But not every game follows that subscription model. Some games zealously have subscriptions that unlock the majority of the gameplay but still keeps a small portion of the game free to play. Other games are for the most part free to play, but have subscriptions that unlock a small portion of gameplay (like AQWorlds).

As for DC content in AQ3D, I don't think AE is pushing enough on premium content when they probably should be. The grand majority of story-based areas in the game lack DC items, particularly DC-exclusive items (items unique only to paid players, not things like craft rewards and daily rewards where you have the option to earn for free or buy for DCs). They don't want to add DC rare items, which is understandable due to resources, but DC-exclusive items would actually help their game more. People want to feel unique as much as they can, and if content is pushed towards free-to-play, which is how the game is marketed, it's hard for AE to gain support from more players. Free-to-play, to me, is just a pitfall for most video games, if not the biggest caveat ever.

 

Nice my lord

 

Yeah I love the way AQ3D is not P2W. I also love it that Guardian is a one time thing unlike members in AQW.

 

Just like in most AE games! One time upgrade for a life time access to new content!

 

I dont think DC exclusive item really effecting AQ3D player base.
For new players I believe "ADs" has more effect to gain new player, and AE devs havent do any promotion yet because the game is still in beta phase. And for current players what we lack isnt uniqueness but the content, slow progress is what making this game losing it current player base.

 

It's really actually great. One of the reasons why I moved from AQW to AQ3D.

 

It's really a perspective thing, but I would actually prefer AQ3D to be slightly more pay2win, just so they get more support in a reasonable fashion to produce better content. The concept of retaining balance means a lot more than being fully free-to-play or being fully pay2win which, I would consider, are both bad as they both have their own cons. Think of it as the "politics of video games." I'd prefer a more neutral position (some free-to-play and some pay2win), but maybe leaning towards a little more free-to-play since the audience is closer to that position.

And AE has to make Guardian a one-time thing. They're not going to be able to push as much content as they would with a 2D game like AQWorlds. I can respect AQWorlds for its membership system and I've been very supportive of that in the past, though I've been less interested in the game as a whole as time's progressed with changes.

Maybe DC-exclusive items won't affect a good chunk of AQ3D's current player base (we really don't know), but it will draw in people who do like exclusives (new audiences, in other words). The idea is to draw in as much appeal to a broader audience as possible, even if it means going against an opinion/viewpoint within the current community (go with the unpopular opinion, in other words). The main issue is that the current community tends to be fixed upon one idea, because that's just what they're used to, and it's alright to go against that. It's about finding the perfect balance to please the bigger demographic than weighing heavily on one side to please the smaller demographic.

And what we lack actually is a combination of uniqueness and content, to be honest, but it's weighing more towards the lack of uniqueness at this point. We get content every week, but the content produced is easy to get dissuaded from. And a lot of players have actually been voicing for bisemanal content or monthly content in hopes of getting better content. If you ever read discussions on Twitter or Disqus (in AQ3D's Design Notes) regarding any new release, you would see a lot of arguments regarding those releases and people trying to suggest feedback and improvements. And Ashfall saga, in fact, had the most diligent time taken and ended up being praised the most. The issue previously had been premature date announcements for releases (causing people to poke fun at AE for delaying releases), but they've done well with posting Design Notes with teasers and stories regarding whatever project they're working on, especially when the audience itself can engage with those things and even produce comments like speculation posts.

 

I do think the game could be a little bit more pay2win but it really depends how they do it. If they do it to much it becomes unfair for non pay2win players. As long as the pay2win players don't get a huge boost in like stats and such then I'm okay with whatever they do. I think they should do something with crafting or things like that. Or maybe make a few more guardian only items.

About the money issue with the AE company I think they do have enough funds, at least for now, but I don't think they are taking the necessary steps to push out more quality content and such. I still think they should hire a few more devs and/or stop working on the dead games and just shut them down and take the devs currently working on those and move them over to AQ3D.

 

And I'm hoping for PvP-only gear to be separated from PvE-only gear, so maybe AE could add DC items with stats and not be called "pay2win" for doing so. There's not really much to "win" in player vs. environment combat, but player vs. player combat is entirely different. I'm honestly not too concerned about how they manage stats in PvE; if a DC item has the second-best stats in PvE, I'm totally fine with that as long as it doesn't affect PvP.

And I'm sure they do have funds considering they've ran 3 Kickstarters already. It's just that AE doesn't tend to be transparent enough about what they do with their extra funds, so people tend to assume that AE's some greedy company or they waste extra funds on personal needs more than actual game development (server costs, etc.). And I've probably reiterated this many times already, but I really don't care how long development takes so long as it's not rushed; I'd probably consider spending more money on the game if there were more DC-exclusives and more quality content.